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The tone of some quatrains entitled Alone differs materially from that usual with Mrs. Hewitt. The idea is happy and well managed.

Mrs. Hewitt's sonnets are, upon the whole, her most praiseworthy compositions. One, entitled Hercules and Omphale, is noticeable for the vigor of its rhythm:

Reclined, enervate, on the couch of ease,

No more he pants for deeds of high emprize;
For Pleasure holds in soft voluptuous ties
Enthralled, great Jove-descended Hercules.
The hand that bound the Erymanthean boar,
Hesperia's dragon slew with bold intent,
That from his quivering side in triumph rent

The skin the Cleonæ an lion wore,

Holds forth the goblet-while the Lydian queen,

Robed like a nymph, her brow enwreathed with vine,
Lifts high the amphora brimmed with rosy wine,
And pours the draught the crownèd cup within.

And thus the soul, abased to sensual sway,

Its worth forsakes-its might forgoes for aye.

The unusual force of the line italicized will be observed. This force arises, first, from the directness, or colloquialism without vulgarity, of its expression (the relative pronoun "which" is very happily omitted between "skin" and "the "); and, secondly, to the musical repetition of the vowel in "Cleonean," together with the alliterative termination in " Cleonæan " and "lion." The effect, also, is much aided by the sonorous conclusion wore."

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Another and better instance of fine versification occurs in Forgotten Heroes

And the peasant mother at her door,

To the babe that climbed her knee,

Sang aloud the land's heroic songs

Sang of Thermopylæ,

Sang of Mycale, of Marathon,

Of proud Platæa's day,

Till the wakened hills from peak to peak

Echoed the glorious lay.

Oh, godlike name! oh, godlike deed!

Song-borne afar on every breeze,

Ye are sounds to thrill like a battle shout,
Leonidas! Miltiades!

The general intention here is a line of four iambuses alternating with a line of three; but, less through rhythmical skill than a musical ear, the poetess has been led into some exceedingly happy variations of the theme. For example, in place of the ordinary iambus as the first foot of the first, of the second, and of the third line, a bastard iambus has been employed. These lines are thus scanned:

And the peas | ant moth | er at | her door |

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is well varied by a trochee, instead of an iambus, in the first foot; and the variation expresses forcibly the enthusiasm excited by the topic of the supposed songs, "Thermopyla." The fifth line is scanned as the three first. The sixth is the general intention, and consists simply of iambuses. The seventh is like the three first and the fifth. The eighth is like the fourth; and here again the opening trochee is admirably adapted to the movement of the topic. The ninth is the general intention, and is formed of four iambuses. The tenth is an alternating line and yet has four iambuses, instead

of the usual three; as has also the final line, an alternating one, too. A fuller volume is in this manner given to the close of the subject; and this volume is fully in keeping with the rising enthusiasm. The last line but one has two bastard iambuses, thus:

Ye are sounds to thrill | like a bat | tle shout|.

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Upon the whole, it may be said that the most skilful versifier could not have written lines better suited to the purposes of the poet. The errors of Alone, however, and of Mrs. Hewitt's poems generally, show that we must regard the beauties pointed out above, merely in the light to which I have already alluded; that is to say, as occasional happiness to which the poetess is led by a musical ear.

I should be doing this lady injustice were I not to mention that, at times, she rises into a higher and purer region of poetry than might be supposed, or inferred, from any of the passages which I have hitherto quoted. The conclusion of her Ocean Tide to the Rivulet puts me in mind of the rich spirit of Horne's noble epic, Orion.

Sadly the flowers their faded petals close
Where on thy banks they languidly repose,
Waiting in vain to hear thee onward press;
And pale Narcissus by thy margin side

Hath lingered for thy coming, drooped and died,
Pining for thee amid the loneliness.

Hasten, beloved!-here! 'neath the o'erhanging rock!
Hark! from the deep, my anxious hope to mock,

They call me back unto my parent main,
Brighter than Thetis thou-and ah, more fleet!
I hear the rushing of thy fair white feet!

Joy! joy!-my breast receives its own again!

The personifications here are well managed. The "Here!—'neath the o'erhanging rock!" has the high merit of being truthfully, by which I mean naturally, expressed, and imparts exceeding vigor to the whole stanza. The idea of the ebb-tide, conveyed in the second line italicized, is one of the happiest imaginable; and too much praise can scarcely be bestowed on the "rushing" of the "fair white feet." The passage altogether is full of fancy, earnestness, and the truest poetic strength. Mrs. Hewitt has given many such indications of a fire which, with more earnest endeavor, might be readily fanned into flame.

In character, she is sincere, fervent, benevolent; sensitive to praise and to blame; in temperament melancholy; in manner subdued; converses earnestly yet quietly. In person she is tall and slender, with black hair and full gray eyes; complexion dark; general expression of the countenance singularly interesting and agreeable.

RICHARD ADAMS LOCKE

About twelve years ago, I think, the New York Sun, a daily paper, price one penny, was established in the

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